After Buzzin’, Love X Stereo released a 3 song single in 2012. The recording of Off the Gird is more polished than their first EP and slightly changes the sound that was present. The songs pull back some of the electronica and allow the instruments to take a front seat to the music.
The first song “Soul City (Seoul City)” is a indie plus synth pop song. The music is repeating rhythms on the guitar strumming eighth notes for the majority of the song with a clean sound. “Soul City” relies a lot on repetitive elements and the English spoken lyrics follow a lot of the same construction.
“Chain Reaction” is the second song and also carries the same repeating rhythm scheme. It’s uses a different rhythm and half-speed vocals that allow the instrumentals to play more complex polyrhythms. It’s a fun song to listen to, but the song has a piece-by-numbers feel to it.
The last song “Storm” pulls influence from a British rock sound combined with their electronica style. “Storm” sounds a lot of late 1990s rock from the United States alternative scene and Innerpartysystem. It has a lot of energy, but somehow feels constrained on the recording.
Off the Grid has 3 solid songs, but the short length doesn’t allow the band to really present a full set of ideas over an entire album. There isn’t a lot of cohesion from song to song and that might be why the EP sounds abrupt.